QuikQ, EFueling team on RF-based fueling

Tuesday, May 01, 2012

Austin, Texas-based fleet management technology provider EFueling Technologies has reportedly signed a confidential deal with QuikQ to begin work on a fueling system that is entirely based on radio frequency technology like RFID chips and readers.
QuikQ, headquartered in Franklin, Tenn., develops new technologies to improve the trucking industry's control of diesel fuel transactions.
The companies aim to make fueling an entirely cardless system where an imbedded RFID chip and pump-based reader can manage, track, and verify payment.
The goal here would be to make fleet fueling much quicker and unify the entire process with automatic transactions tied to a single account. This system is expected to make the process more profitable for operators as they could collect all of the fueling information for a fleet and then process it as a single payment across a longer timeframe. EFueling already offers a radio frequency-based system, called EasyFuel RF. It’s a remote activation and authorization system the company can configure for fuel authorization. It can be developed in both passive and active modules to provide varying levels of automated fuel authorization control. The system uses a Vehicle Identification Device installed on the truck to provide vehicle and data mapping.
The company previously said it was working with technology companies to provide ways to integrate the system with more third parties and within customer’s own platforms.
QuikQ provides carriers the ability to integrate their enterprise software with the point-of-sale systems that fuel vendors are developing around fleet fuel cards and third-party billings. It currently operates a network it calls DFConnect, which bridges trucks and these point-of-sale systems. DFConnect supports communication using RFID and other mobile communication technologies to issue a unique purchase order for each fuel transaction, while guaranteeing that the payments are made against the appropriate vehicles.
No financial or other terms of the deal have been disclosed. — Geoff Whiting